I've been researching rainfall data in Bermuda for a project I'm working on, since we had two sources in our files that differed GREATLY and we needed to figure out which data is more likely to be right. In my googling, I came across the article above, which I'd like to share with you.

First, its from 1888, which is just awesome that you can google "bermuda rainfall" and come up with an article from 1888. Second, the first line, which implies that the New York Times had to wait for foreign newspapers to arrive by boat to find out news from nearby regions. My how times have changed. And three, the average rainfall that they refer to is actually pretty much the same as it is these days. Good sign I guess.

We just got back from our annual trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate Thanksgiving at my uncle's house. One of my cousins just had a second daughter in the spring, and his first daughter is now almost 2 1/2, so most of Thanksgiving Day was spent playing with the kids. It is amazing how much the older one changed from last year - she now seems like a real person instead of a generic baby. And the younger one was just adorable. Its been a long time since I've been around little kids on a regular basis, pretty much since college when I used to babysit, so it was a lot of fun. Not that it makes me want to have kids soon - it just makes me wish some of our friends had them so I could borrow them every once in a while to read to.

My mom brought some books for the kids for holiday presents, and it brought back memories. My parents used to tease me by telling me they picked me out at Toys 'r' Us, and I can't remember now if that's why I loved Corduroy so much, or if my parents didn't make up that story until I already had the book. And my dad used to love reading Madeline to me - he loved doing all the voices. Maybe next year, the younger cousin will be ready for me to read to her.

Overall, it was a very relaxed Thanksgiving. We left early on Wednesday, so we got to PIttsburgh around dinner time instead of late at night. We ate too much turkey and sides (fyi, my cousin has shown us the way, and the way is grilled turkey!), slept a lot, read a lot, and pretty much only left the house to visit with my mom's cousin's family on Friday. And coming back, we made our best time ever - just over 6 hrs.

This year we've been spending a lot of time at BAM, and we decided to get a package of tickets for the Next Wave Festival. Last week we saw the last of our package, so here's my assessment of the shows.

1. Kronos Quartet - There were two main pieces, one of which was a collaboration with Erik Sanko with a huge marionette show, and a collaboration with Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen. The marionette show was great. The other piece the music was great, but it went on too long. Over an hour without any break in the music was a bit much. And there may have been some dozing off. Me and the dark on a weeknight after work tends to be a bad combination. Verdict: I'd go see it again as long as some Finnish collaborators aren't on the bill.
2. Hotel Cassiopeia - A play about Joseph Cornell. It looked very pretty, and it seemed like they were staging different Cornell boxes, but it meandered between Cornell's imagination and his life, and it probably would have been a lot easier to follow if I knew more about Cornell beforehand. Which of course meant I dozed off a bit. Verdict: Interesting, but not for the non-art lovers.
3. Krum - A play by an Israeli playwright from the 70's, being performed in Polish by a Polish theater company about a man who returns to his friends and family after working abroad for a few years. Who knew a three hour play with no intermission could be so entrancing. I stayed awake for the whole thing! Depressing but masterful. Verdict: Well worth the sore behind.
4. The BQE - A film and music composition about the BQE by Sufjan Stevens. I don't know if it would have had the same effects without the film portion of the program, but the music was great at conveying the horrors and joys of the highway. I physically cringed during the traffic jams and breathed a sigh of relief at escaping the city. The second half of the program was the full orchestra performing some of Stevens's songs, and it was even better than the first half. His songs sound so much better with the full orchestra. Verdict: I hope this performance is released on a CD because its well worth a listen.
5. Cast No Shadow - A film and dance collaboration. I liked the dance portion, but the film, while beautiful, didn't hold my interest as much as the dance. The last piece incorporated fishing nets hanging from the ceiling into the dance, since the film in that piece was about boats, and the results were fantastic, but that didn't stop me from dozing off. Verdict: I'd see the dance troupe again, but probably skip the filmmaker a second time round.
6. One Loss Plus - A composition by DBR with an accompanying video installation. I liked the music, but found that when the video was playing, I tuned out the music into the background, which is unfortunate. But I stayed awake, so it must have done something right. Verdict: I'd give DBR a second chance, but I didn't fall head over heels.

Overall, there were definitely some shows I enjoyed more than others, but it was a great package overall and I look forward to seeing what will be performed next year.

Hmm, I guess I haven't been posting much, and definitely not about anything other than our vacation which was now more than a month ago. This week was thankfully pretty low key. There was a show at BAM on Friday night, an interesting dance/film combination, and followed it by dinner at 67 Burger - very tasty burgers and fries!

Then yesterday, after laundry and lazing around in the morning, we took a monster walk around Brooklyn. Down to Myrtle to visit the post office, and then down Myrtle to stop by my friend Brian's new wine shop, Gnarly Vines. I was there on Thursday for the grand opening party, but it was so packed in there that I didn't have a chance to really look around. On Saturday, there were only a few people in the shop so Brian was able to give us some good recommendations. And best of all, there is free delivery, and even though we weren't heading home, they were nice enough to deliver today instead. We continued to walk down Myrtle, browsing through some of the new shops, and then walked over to Smith Street (past the installation of a very sparse looking Christmas tree in Metrotech) and looked around a bit before heading over to the Cobble Hill Cinema to watch Gone Baby Gone. After the movie, which was really masterful, Sam was craving Mexican food, so we checked out Lobo, on Court St, before heading home.

Today, we ventured outside for breakfast at Choice Market, but mostly sat around reading the paper and doing things like going through the mail. The weeks have been so busy lately that its nice to have the relaxing weekends to have some real down time.